Musical variety a big factor in this year's Bamboozle

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerBamboozle attendees crowd-surf during a set by Motion City Soundtrack, today.

On one stage, the muscular singer of a heavy rock band exhorts the crowd to “go crazy.” Yards away, a soft-voiced R&B crooner dedicates one to the ladies. On yet another stage is a sight more common in these parts: four young men with sharp haircuts race through a pop-punk set at breakneck pace.

Since debuting in 2003, the annual Bamboozle festival has established itself as an overstimulation zone, and this year’s show, which brought more than 100 bands to the Meadowlands parking lot on Saturday and Sunday (and attracted more than 30,000 people per day), was no exception. But was all the variety incongruous?

Not really. Odd as it might have been to see Ke$ha’s frothy electroclash follow Angels & Airwaves’ ambitious punk-prog hybrid, the Bamboozle masses seemed perfectly willing to sing along to both. The festival’s bookers may have been following demand, but in the process, they proved a point: genre distinctions aren’t as important as they used to be.

Both days’ lineups were full of established stars and potential next big things.

Saturday headliners Paramore played an energetic set to a predictably ecstatic response. Gone were the rough edges that occasionally marred the band’s performances in the past: everything was professional and streamlined. Singer Hayley Williams commanded the most attention, but the Farro brothers (Zac, drums, and Josh, guitar) have matured into formidable instrumentalists, razor-precise when they need to be and powerful as a matter of course.

It’s understandable if Paramore fans weren’t too thrilled with Drake. The pop-rap titan delayed the band’s performance by starting late and going 30 minutes over his allotted set time — unheard of at the obsessively punctual Bamboozle.

Those who coped with Drake’s discourtesy were treated to a confident, occasionally fascinating performance. The rapper regularly delivers evocative metaphors (“You can have my heart or we could share it like the last slice”) and his measured, conversational style ensures that listeners will catch every word. From time to time, his drummer would stop the beat cold, and he’d rhyme over airy synthesizer, or nothing at all.

He previewed two new songs from the his upcoming “Thank Me Later” album — no major departures, but they were both engrossing. And in one of the evening’s most audacious acts, he implored the audience to rap Lil Wayne’s verse on “I’m Going In” in hopes that the incarcerated rapper would hear a recording of the song in his jail cell.

Under a high, hot Sunday afternoon sun, Never Shout Never played to a crowd worthy of a headliner. The Joplin, Mo. band was one of the most blogged about acts at this year’s South by Southwest festival, and carried that enthusiasm over to the Bamboozle. Their songs are relentlessly optimistic, their crowd is young and adoring, and Christofer Ingle’s vocals range from gleeful to downright ecstatic.

The best of the weekend’s top-billed acts, however, was Andrew McMahon’s occasionally overlooked Something Corporate, whose members have reunited after half a decade devoted to other projects. McMahon clearly has a vexed relationship to the older Something Corporate material, but on Saturday, he sang it with verve, periodically stomping or sitting on his grand piano for punk emphasis.

The much-publicized B-Boy Stage and Arena — Bamboozle’s engagement with contemporary hip-hop and R&B — proved to be a mixed bag. Aficionado favorites like Tanya Morgan, Wale and Sean Price appeared, but stage time was wasted on skills-deficient, fundamentally unserious performers like Roxy Cottontail. Still, these acts were entertaining, and the freewheeling attitude around the B-Boy Stage made room for some pleasant surprises, including a well-received set by mixtape hero Mike Posner, whose half-whispered vocals radiated magnetism.

Other standouts included Princeton’s passionate Saves The Day; the anthemic Steel Train (who rose to the occasion, and the setting, with a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark”); the inventive Good Old War; and Red Bank’s whip-smart Cara Salimando, who boldly played intimate acoustic folk-pop songs at this highly electrified festival.

Teenage Jersey band 'Rapid Fire' set to play BamboozleRapid Fire, a heavy metal and prog rock band made up of 14 through 16-year-olds, will play at Bamboozle Festival this weekend after winning a competition with over 500 bands to get a spot in the lineup. (Video by Eliot Caroom / LNS)